Danny Trejo

Dan "Danny" Trejo (born 16 May 1944) is an American actor who has appeared in numerous Hollywood films, often as hypermasculine characters, villains and anti-heroes. Some of his notable films include Heat (1995), Con Air (1997), and Desperado (1995), the latter with frequent collaborator Robert Rodriguez. Trejo is perhaps most recognized as the character Machete, originally developed by Rodriguez for the Spy Kids series of movies and later expanded into Trejo's own series of films aimed at a more adult audience. He also appeared in TV shows such as Breaking Bad and Sons of Anarchy.

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Early life

Dan Trejo, who is of Mexican descent,[1] was born in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.[2][3] He is the son of Alice Rivera and Dan Trejo, a construction worker,[4][5] and a second cousin of filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, though the two were unaware that they were related until the filming of Desperado.[6][7]

Throughout the 1960s, Trejo was in and out of jail and prison in California; Trejo credits his appearance as contributory to his constantly getting into trouble.[8] There are conflicting accounts of his prison chronology. By one account, his final term in custody ended in 1972;[3] by another account, he did time in a juvenile offenders' camp and six California prisons between 1959 and 1969.[9][10] He recalled that his last prison term was five years. While serving in San Quentin Prison, he became a champion boxer in that prison's lightweight and welterweight divisions.[3] During this time, Trejo became a member of a twelve-step program, which he credits with his success in overcoming drug addiction. In 2011, he recalled that he had been sober for 42 years.[9]

Upon his final release, Trejo enrolled in Pitzer College located in Claremont, California but subsequently left after one semester of attendance.

Career

Films and television

While Trejo was working as a youth drug counselor, a teenage patient asked for his assistance dealing with cocaine problems on the set of Runaway Train (1985).[3][11] While there, Trejo was offered a job as an extra in the film's prison scenes. Edward Bunker, himself a former convict and well-respected crime author who was writing the screenplay for the film, recognized Trejo, with whom he had done time at San Quentin.[3][11] Bunker, remembering Trejo's boxing skills, offered him $320 per day to train Eric Roberts, one of the movie's stars, for a boxing scene. Director Andrei Konchalovsky liked Trejo's work and decided to offer him a small role in the film as a boxer. It has been widely misreported that Trejo was actually serving time in the prison during filming, when in fact he had been released over a decade earlier.Template:Citation needed

Regarding his continued growth as a professional actor, Trejo has stated that he still cannot believe how fortunate he has been: "I'm so blessed. I'm still scared that somebody's going to wake me up and say, 'Hey, we're still in prison. Let's go to chow".[14]
Many of Trejo's characters in Robert Rodriguez movies have been named after knives or sharp instruments: Machete in Spy Kids, Razor Charlie in the From Dusk till Dawn series, Navajas (Spanish for blades) in Desperado, and Cuchillo (Spanish for knife) in Predators.[15] He also played Machete in a trailer made for Rodriguez's film collaboration with Quentin Tarantino, Grindhouse. In 2010, he starred in a full theatrical version of Machete, based on the character, followed by a second Machete Kills in 2013.

Danny Trejo produced his first film, Ambition, in 2014, it was a family film. He will produce an action film Bad Ass in 2015.[16]Template:Clarify In 2015, Trejo appeared in a television commercial for Snickers that aired during Super Bowl XLIX, in which he portrayed Marcia Brady prior to eating the candy bar.[17][18]

Personal life

Filmography

In popular culture

Comics

In the comic series DMZ a character named Danny with the same appearance as Danny Trejo appears; the character indicates that he was formerly a convicted felon, as well.

Games

Trejo is featured in the hip-hop fighting game Def Jam: Fight for NY (2004) as a soldier on Crow's side. He can be seen in the intro of Greg Hastings' Tournament Paintball Max'd ("Play for Real", B-Real & DJ Lethal),Template:Citation needed. He is featured in the downloadable content pack called Escalation Map Pack in the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010), on the map "Call of the Dead" as himself. He provided the voice of Non-player character Raul Alfonso Tejada in Fallout: New Vegas.

Literature

In Charlie Higson's third The Enemy series novel, The Fear (2011), Orlando Epstein, nicknamed Einstein, makes fun of DogNut's ignorance by introducing himself as Isaac Newton. In retaliation, DogNut says, "my real name's Danny Trejo, but you may call me DogNut. Everyone else does." When Einstein responds, "Okay, Danny", DogNut reflects: "He may not know much about scientists, but Einstein clearly didn't know much about hard-faced, ex-con Mexican action-movie stars."[22]